Newcastle tried a ‘big player’ in a new position against Hull.

Newcastle United won their first official pre-season game away at Hull.

Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak were on the scoresheet as Eddie Howe’s side – without some of their biggest names – won with relative ease on Humberside.

It was promising to see Isak and Murphy start alongside Nick Pope, Joelinton, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and Dan Burn, given all of them will likely play big roles for Newcastle in the coming season.

Still, the options off the bench looked light and while there are still returning international players to come, the lack of compelling options surely underlined the need to get some signings through the door relatively quickly.

The squad will get stronger of course, both because of the returnees and potential new additions but the game afforded Howe the chance to try Lewis Hall in a new relatively new position for Newcastle.

Hailed as a “big player” for his performances towards the end of last season, the 19-year-old got to try his luck further up the field.

Lewis Hall plays in midfield for Newcastle

While Hall has recently spoken about the work he’s done to improve the defensive side of his game as a left-back, The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder noted on social media platform X that the teenager was operating as a deep-lying midfielder before eventually moving into central defence.

Transfermarkt data notes that Hall did not play there for Newcastle last season, meaning it is something new for him while clad in black and white.

Lewis Hall could provide something Eddie Howe loves at Newcastle

Howe has previously spoken about how much he values a player’s versatility, so the idea of seeing Hall there perhaps isn’t too much of a surprise.

Having impressed towards the end of last season at left-back, sharpening yet another string in his bow would do his chances of regular first-team football no harm at all.